These little cakes remind me of a more sophisticated, stripped-back cupcake. Full of flavor with a dense but chewy crumb, it's like frangipane meets fairy cake. Beautifully simple to make, the biggest pitfall is not greasing your tins properly. If you don't have non-stick muffin tins or friand tins, make sure you butter them to death or you'll have eight fabulous cakes that you can’t get out of the tins.

So thick and luscious you need to serve it in a bowl and eat it with a spoon, this smoothie tastes like chocolate mousse but is healthy enough to kick-start your day. It would also make an epic quick and easy dessert when mates drop by! Yeew!

The Lamington is a "true" Aussie icon. One bite brings Chef Hergatt back to his childhood in outback Queensland. These cubes of cake, covered in chocolate ganache and coconut, have a surprise center of raspberry jam. You can either eat them like cookies with your fingers or serve them on individual plates with dessert forks.

By its very nature, a Pavlova is a little wild—as proved by these three tiers of airy meringue, which crack and crumble to reveal marshmallowy interiors while the berries' juices puddle all over drifts of whipped cream. And that playful mix of textures and flavors sure tastes delicious. Meringues aren't usually made with moist brown sugar, but here it adds a deeper kind of sweetness. Baking them in cake pans, another unusual technique, helps these meringues crisp up.

The ruffly white meringue called a Pavlova is all about sublime textures. Here, the crunchy yet marshmallowy meringue meets silky lemon curd, juicy ripe berries, and billows of whipped cream. Virtually the national dish of Australia, the dessert is claimed by New Zealand as well; it was named for the Russian prima ballerina Anna Pavlova, who toured both countries in 1926\. The inspiration for this recipe came from food stylist (and New Zealander) Toni Brogan.

This classic regional dish is from Ralph Potter, chef at Darley's at Lilianfels in the Blue Ridge Mountains west of Sydney. "Wild mushrooms are so plentiful when the sun has come out after it's been raining for a few days, why not be indulgent and make a special soup out of them to celebrate the season."

These individual Pavlovas are inspired by the popular Australian dessert (named for the Russian ballerina), which combines crisp meringue with whipped cream and assorted fruit. It's easy to form the cups with a pastry bag, but if you don't have one, try this technique: Drop the meringue by half-cupfuls onto the baking sheets, then use the back of a spoon to create a deep, wide indentation in the center of each.

A new look for Australia's favorite dessert -- this recipe from Martin Webb, chef at Georges in Melbourne can be prepared a day or two ahead, leaving only the brief final assembly to be done before serving.

**Editor's note:** _The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from chef Neil Perry's book_ Rockpool. _Neil also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. For your convenience, we've converted the measures — with as much accuracy as possible — from Australian to American. For those who have metric equipment and wish to follow Neil's recipe to the milliliter, we've included the original measures too._
To read more about Neil and Australian cuisine, [click here](http://eat.epicurious.com/eat/going_global/?/eat/going_global/australian/profile.html).
The availability of Illabo lamb on the Australian market is due to Tony Lehmann's efforts. He is one of the few Australian producers who understands what the market wants, and delivers, in no uncertain terms, a quality product that is markedly better than the bland generic produce grown for the large corporations. It is because of suppliers like Tony that the quality and variety of fine produce we have available in Australia is maintained. This is the driving force behind fabulous multicultural cooking.
This is the dish of the moment at Rockpool. The lamb is only 6 weeks old, and has a dressed body weight of about 8 kg (17 1/2 lbs). It is flavoursome, tender and has a wonderful clean taste that is unmatched. The accompanying sauce is rich, flavoursome and has no Asian ingredients, except for a little ginger, for good luck. The only necessary addition is a green salad à la Rockpool.
The recipe for Tomato Jam yields 750 ml (3 cups). It is also very good with raw fish, and will keep for up to a month in the refrigerator.